Psalm 89 - Seventy years in this life; eighty years old to eternity...

William Blake

Psalm 89: Domine refugium factus es nobis - Thursday Lauds

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Oratio Moysi, hominis Dei.	A prayer of Moses the man of God.
1 Dómine, refúgium factus es nobis: * a generatióne in generatiónem.	Lord, you have been our refuge from generation to generation.
2  Priúsquam montes fíerent, aut formarétur terra et orbis: * a sæculo et usque in sæculum tu es, Deus.	2 Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed; from eternity and to eternity you are God.
3  Ne avértas hóminem in humilitátem: * et dixísti: Convertímini, fílii hóminum.	3 Turn not man away to be brought low: and you have said: Be converted, O you sons of men.
4  Quóniam mille anni ante óculos tuos, * tamquam dies hestérna, quæ prætériit.	4 For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, which is past.
5  Et custódia in nocte, * quæ pro níhilo habéntur, eórum anni erunt.	And as a watch in the night,  things that are counted nothing, shall their years be.
6  Mane sicut herba tránseat, mane flóreat, et tránseat: * véspere décidat, indúret et aréscat.	6 In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither.
7  Quia defécimus in ira tua, * et in furóre tuo turbáti sumus.	7 For in your wrath we have fainted away: and are troubled in your indignation.
8  Posuísti iniquitátes nostras in conspéctu tuo: * sæculum nostrum in illuminatióne vultus tui.	8 You have set our iniquities before your eyes: our life in the light of your countenance.
9  Quóniam omnes dies nostri defecérunt: * et in ira tua defécimus.	9 For all our days are spent; and in your wrath we have fainted away.
10  Anni nostri sicut aránea meditabúntur: * dies annórum nostrórum in ipsis, septuagínta anni.	Our years shall be considered as a spider:  The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years.
11  Si autem in potentátibus, octogínta anni: * et ámplius eórum, labor et dolor.	But if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is labour and sorrow.
12  Quóniam supervénit mansuetúdo: * et corripiémur.	For mildness has come upon us: and we shall be corrected.
13  Quis novit potestátem iræ tuæ: * et præ timóre tuo iram tuam dinumeráre?	11 Who knows the power of your anger, and for your fear  can number your wrath?
14  Déxteram tuam sic notam fac: * et erudítos corde in sapiéntia.	So make your right hand known: and men learned in heart, in wisdom.
15  Convértere, Dómine, úsquequo? * et deprecábilis esto super servos tuos.	13 Return, O Lord, how long? And be entreated in favour of your servants.
16  Repléti sumus mane misericórdia tua: * et exsultávimus, et delectáti sumus ómnibus diébus nostris.	14 We are filled in the morning with your mercy: and we have rejoiced, and are delighted all our days.
17  Lætáti sumus pro diébus, quibus nos humiliásti: * annis, quibus vídimus mala.	15 We have rejoiced for the days in which you have humbled us: for the years in which we have seen evils.
18  Réspice in servos tuos, et in ópera tua: * et dírige fílios eórum.	16 Look upon your servants and upon their works: and direct their children.
19  Et sit splendor Dómini Dei nostri super nos, et ópera mánuum nostrárum dírige super nos: * et opus mánuum nostrárum dírige.	17 And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and direct the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands do you direct.

Psalm 89, it seems to me, is the high point of this set of Lauds psalms, and key to understanding the whole set.  Attributed to Moses, it not only contains many references to morning and light, it also provides the link between these and the truth and mercy theme.

Truth and mercy

The overarching theme is God's eternity, compared to the ephemeral nature of our life on this earth.  And against this background God confronts us with the truth about ourselves:

You have set our iniquities before your eyes: our life in the light of your countenance.

Sinful and doomed to die, mankind lies suffering, awaiting God's mercy; then the Lord indeed arrives on this earth, creating for us a morning that is the dawn of the new creation, where in we can live forever with God:

We are filled in the morning with your mercy: and we have rejoiced, and are delighted all our days.

What is necessary for this to occur: that we cultivate humility, and allow the Lord to direct the works of our hands:

We have rejoiced for the days in which you have humbled us: for the years in which we have seen evils....and direct the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands do you direct.

Cassiodorus and many others saw this is as a key prayer, perhaps used daily by the people in their desert wanderings, and in his introduction to it, he offers a mini-treatise on the effects of prayer:

 A prayer, by which the Lord's anger is deferred, pardon gained, punishment avoided, and generous rewards obtained when he speaks to the Lord, gossips with the Judge, and pictures before his eyes Him whom he cannot see. 

By his prayer he placates Him whom he eagerly exalts by his actions. 

Prayer in some sense affords clois­tered converse with the Lord, and offers an opportunity for intimations; the sinner is granted access to the Judge's inner sanctum, and the only person rejected is he who is found lukewarm in his prayer. 

He seeks what he desires, he acquires more than he deserves. He approaches his prayer with melancholy, but departs from it in glad­ness. 

Prayer which is holy saves the committed and makes them blessed; it also welcomes the wicked. There are countless examples of this blessing, but it must suffice that the Lord Himself in giving us precepts for living deigned to pray. So it is appropriate that a prayer was placed before this noble and great man, who often softened the angry Lord with a marvellous mode of entreaty for us to follow.

 Cassiodorus summarises the content of the psalm as follows:

Moses, a most holy man remarkable for his achievements, and ven­erable because of his converse with God, begins in the first section with praise of the Judge, briefly recounting His kindnesses and His power. Next he asks for support for our weakness, which he demon­strates with many instances. Thirdly, he begs that the coming of the Lord Saviour may become known more quickly, for he knew that it would afford benefits for the human race.

Life expectancy and the number of the psalms

Cassiodorus offers another reason for seeing this psalm as a key to the others, and that goes to the life expectancy of men (70 year or 80 if...) and the number of the psalms (ie 70+80=150).

The Fathers viewed numbers as part of the divine law, inherent in creation, as Cassiodorus explains here:

Let us ponder, men of the greatest wisdom, how many mysteries of the sacred law are revealed to us by the various numbers. ..Other mysteries of the divine law are contained in various numbers. We read that the grains of sand of the sea, the drops of rain, the hairs of men's heads are counted. So that we may in brief grasp the praise and power of the discipline of number, Solomon says that God has ordered all things in measure and number and weight. Thus it becomes clear and indubitable to all that the discipline of arithmetic is pervasive every­where. 

In this particular case, he notes:

Moses here by computation of the numbers seventy and eighty draws the lives of men together. The entire sequence of psalms is embraced by that number... 

Cassiodorus also alludes to the number symbolism here as referring to the combination of Old and New Testaments - the old symbolised by the seven days of creation (and perhaps also the 70 translators of the Septuagint); the new by the eighth day of the new creation.

Light

This psalm includes several references to the illuminating power of God, from lux, lucis (light), including:

8  Posuísti iniquitátes nostras in conspéctu tuo: * sæculum nostrum in illuminatióne vultus tui.

8 You have set our iniquities before your eyes: our life in the light of your countenance.

and

19  Et sit splendor Dómini Dei nostri super nos, et ópera mánuum nostrárum dírige super nos: * et opus mánuum nostrárum dírige.

17 And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and direct the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands do you direct.

It is worth noting that the expression that St Benedict uses in his rule (in the received text) on the time for Lauds is 'qui incipiente luce agendi sunt', or when light begins, starts to take hold.  He also uses a word frequently used in these psalms to describe the hour itself: matutinis.

In Scripture, first light and dawn are often described by reference to light for example: before the light (ante lucem, Psalm 62); at first light (prima luce, 1 Esdras 9:41); morning light  (lux matutinas); lux aurora; light shining in the darkness; and so forth.

The most beautifully poetic of these is surely that of Psalm 18 (Prime on Saturday):

5  In sole pósuit tabernáculum suum: * et ipse tamquam sponsus procédens de thálamo suo.	He has set his tabernacle in the sun: and he as a bridegroom coming out of his bridechamber,
6  Exsultávit ut gigas ad curréndam viam, * a summo cælo egréssio ejus.	Has rejoiced as a giant to run the way: His going out is from the end of heaven,

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	2 Peter 3:8 (vs3-4)
RB cursus	Thursday Lauds+AN 2373
Monastic feasts etc	Maundy Thurs Tenebrae Lauds; Last verse used at chapter. AN (8, 9, 16)
Responsories	6508 (1); 1919 (13-17); 7676 (17)
Roman pre 1911	Thurs lauds
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Thursday Lauds . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Tues Lent I IN (1-2); PP 6 GR (1, 13); PP13 AL(1); PP 21 GR (1-2); Lent and Sept Ember Sat GR (1, 13);

I've also written about this psalm in the context of the psalms for Thursday and Tenebrae of Maundy Thursday.

Or you can continue on to the next part in this series.

Tenebrae/11 - Psalm 89

The arrest of Jesus, c1500

Today we move to the Lauds proportion of Tenebrae for Maundy Thursday.  We've already looked at Psalm 50, the Miserere, that opens up this hour, so today a brief look at Psalm 89.

One could also see the psalm as recapitulating the purpose of the Passion and Resurrection, for there is a progression in what the psalmist is asking for here: first for God to relent in his punishment of mankind (v3-12); secondly, to reveal his power and teach us wisdom (v14); and finally to fill his people with grace and blessings (v14-17).

A psalm of Moses

Psalm 89 is the only psalm attributed to Moses in the psalter, and he is also the author of the canticle that forms part of this Lauds (from Exodus 15).  Some interpret this psalm as having been written at the end of Moses’ life, gazing into the Promised Land, yet not allowed to enter it himself, and begging for God to have mercy on the remnant that still survived of those who came out of Egypt.  Thus Moses stands on our behalf, begging Christ to save us through his Passion.

The psalm points first to the divinity of Christ, reminding us that: “Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed; from eternity and to eternity you are God.” (v2)  Thus, it reminds us of the two natures of the Christ, so critical to what is to come.

The next verse, at least in the Septuagint/Vulgate version (yet curiously reversed in meaning in the later Hebrew Masoretic Text!), continues the plea set up in the previous psalms for God not to abandon man: Turn not man away to be brought low (v3).  Certainly the Fathers saw the following plea for God to have pity and convert men, and v15’s ‘Return, O Lord, how long? And be entreated in favour of your servants’, in the context of the discussion on the shortness of man’s life, in verses 6-11, as allusions to the consequences of Adam’s sin: we too would be immortal but for it.

Have we made a difference?

One can also take the discussion on the shortness of man’s life in contrast to the eternity of God (vv 2, 4&5) as part of a kind of dialogue between the human and divine natures of the Saviour, pointing to the shortness of Christ’s life on earth, a time that he was obviously reluctant to cut short, the divine plan notwithstanding.

Some commentaries on this psalm see it as in part the lament of a man facing death and wondering whether he has really made a difference with his life.  That is obviously not an issue that faced Our Lord, but the psalm's emphasis on the transient nature, and shortness of human life on earth should serve as a reminder to keep our focus on eternity and what matters.

Christ's public ministry was short, and so far as the world viewed it, cut off ignominiously.  Yet the effects of his ministry resound to the ends of the universe.  In our own small way we too each have a mission to carry out, a difference to make in ways that may not be obvious to anyone, including ourselves.   So let us head the words of the psalm, ignore the perceptions of the world, and 'be converted'!

Psalm 89 (90)

Domine, refugium factus es nobis a generatione in generationem.
Priusquam montes fierent, aut formaretur terra et orbis, a sæculo et usque in sæculum tu es, Deus.
Ne avertas hominem in humilitatem : et dixisti : convertimini, filii hominum.
Quoniam mille anni ante oculos tuos tamquam dies hesterna quæ præteriit:
et custodia in nocte, quæ pro nihilo habentur, eorum anni erunt.
Mane sicut herba transeat; mane floreat, et transeat; vespere decidat, induret, et arescat.
Quia defecimus in ira tua, et in furore tuo turbati sumus.
Posuisti iniquitates nostras in conspectu tuo; sæculum nostrum in illuminatione vultus tui.
Quoniam omnes dies nostri defecerunt, et in ira tua defecimus.
Anni nostri sicut aranea meditabuntur; dies annorum nostrorum in ipsis septuaginta anni.
Si autem in potentatibus octoginta anni, et amplius eorum labor et dolor;
quoniam supervenit mansuetudo, et corripiemur.
Quis novit potestatem iræ tuæ, et præ timore tuo iram tuam dinumerare? Dexteram tuam sic notam fac, et eruditos corde in sapientia.
Convertere, Domine; usquequo? et deprecabilis esto super servos tuos.
Repleti sumus mane misericordia tua; et exsultavimus, et delectati sumus omnibus diebus nostris.
Lætati sumus pro diebus quibus nos humiliasti; annis quibus vidimus mala.
Respice in servos tuos et in opera tua, et dirige filios eorum.
Et sit splendor Domini Dei nostri super nos, et opera manuum nostrarum dirige super nos, et opus manuum nostrarum dirige.

And the translation:

Lord, you have been our refuge from generation to generation.
Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed; from eternity and to eternity you are God.
Turn not man away to be brought low: and you have said: Be converted, O you sons of men.
For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, which is past.
And as a watch in the night, things that are counted nothing, shall their years be.
In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither.
For in your wrath we have fainted away: and are troubled in your indignation.
You have set our iniquities before your eyes: our life in the light of your countenance.
For all our days are spent; and in your wrath we have fainted away. Our years shall be considered as a spider: The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years.
But if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is labour and sorrow.
For mildness has come upon us: and we shall be corrected.
Who knows the power of your anger, and for your fear can number your wrath? So make your right hand known: and men learned in heart, in wisdom.
Return, O Lord, how long? And be entreated in favour of your servants.
We are filled in the morning with your mercy: and we have rejoiced, and are delighted all our days.
We have rejoiced for the days in which you have humbled us: for the years in which we have seen evils.
Look upon your servants and upon their works: and direct their children.
And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and direct the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands do you direct.

Tenebrae of Holy Thursday

Nocturn I: Psalms 68, 69, 70

Nocturn II: Psalms 71, 72, 73

Nocturn III: Psalms 74, 75, 76

Lauds: 50, 89, 35, [Ex 15], 146

And for the next part in this series, go here.

Introduction to Psalm 89: The humanity and divinity of Christ

William Blake:
Moses and the Brazen Serpent

In my notes on Psalm 87, the other psalm of Thursday at Lauds, I suggested that Thursday represents the start of a mini-Triduum in the Office, and that darkest of psalms alludes to Christ’s dark moments at Gethsemane as he contemplated his coming Passion.

The connection of this second psalm of Lauds, Psalm 89, which St Benedict took over from the old Roman Office for the day, to the mini-Triduum idea, however is rather less obvious to me at least on the face of it.

Yet this psalm is also assigned to Tenebrae on Maundy Thursday, which suggests that there surely is a thematic link! Accordingly, I’ll sketch out the possibilities that I see here…

A response to Psalm 87?

In the context of the Benedictine Office the first point to note is that it provides something of a response to the unresolved ending of Psalm 87 that precedes it.

Psalm 87 is a prayer of unrelieved gloom on the part of a man about to die, perhaps a prayer from the humanity of Christ, eventually resolved after the agony of Gethsemane. This psalm, by contrast points first to the divinity of Christ, reminding us that: “Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed; from eternity and to eternity you are God.” (v2) Thus, we are reminded of the two natures of Christ, so critical to the events to come.

Secondly, the next verse, at least in the Septuagint/Vulgate version, is a plea to God not to abandon man: Turn not man away to be brought low (v3), thus fits neatly indeed with the Gethsemane theme (note however that the Hebrew Masoretic Text version, followed by the Monastic Diurnal in this case, actually turns this verse around saying ‘Thou turnest man again to dust’).

Certainly the Fathers saw the  plea for God to have pity and convert men, and v.15’s ‘Return, O Lord, how long? And be entreated in favour of your servants’, and the discussion on the shortness of man’s life, in verses 6-11, as allusions to the consequences of Adam’s sin: we too would be immortal but for it.

The consequences of Original Sin

Thirdly, perhaps one can also take the discussion on the shortness of man’s life in contrast to the eternity of God (vv 2, 4&5) as part of a kind of dialogue between the human and divine natures of the Saviour, pointing to the shortness of Christ’s life on earth, a time that he was obviously reluctant to cut short, the divine plan notwithstanding.  Some of the commentaries also interpret these verses as the prayer of a man facing death wondering whether he has made a real difference, again nicely linking to the Gethsemane theme.

Fourthly, one could perhaps see the psalm as recapitulating the purpose of the Passion and Resurrection, for there is a progression in what the psalmist is asking for here: first for God to relent in his punishment of mankind (v3-12); secondly, to reveal his power and teach us wisdom (v14); and finally to fill his people with grace and blessings (v14-17).

A song of Moses

Finally, Psalm 89 is the only psalm attributed to Moses in the psalter, and he is also the author of the (ferial) canticle that St Benedict set for the day. Perhaps the allusion is to Moses himself, who stands in a sense at the crossover point between the Old and New Testaments.

Some interpret this psalm as having been written at the end of Moses’ life, gazing into the Promised Land, yet not allowed to enter it himself, and begging for God to have mercy on the remnant that still survived of those who came out of Egypt. Thus Moses stands on our behalf, begging Christ to save us through his Passion.

Psalm 89

Oratio Moysi, hominis Dei.
Domine, refugium factus es nobis a generatione in generationem.
2 Priusquam montes fierent, aut formaretur terra et orbis, a sæculo et usque in sæculum tu es, Deus.
3 Ne avertas hominem in humilitatem : et dixisti : Convertimini, filii hominum.
4 Quoniam mille anni ante oculos tuos tamquam dies hesterna quæ præteriit: et custodia in nocte
5 quæ pro nihilo habentur, eorum anni erunt.
6 Mane sicut herba transeat; mane floreat, et transeat; vespere decidat, induret, et arescat.
7 Quia defecimus in ira tua, et in furore tuo turbati sumus.
8 Posuisti iniquitates nostras in conspectu tuo; sæculum nostrum in illuminatione vultus tui.
9 Quoniam omnes dies nostri defecerunt, et in ira tua defecimus. Anni nostri sicut aranea meditabuntur; 10 dies annorum nostrorum in ipsis septuaginta anni. Si autem in potentatibus octoginta anni, et amplius eorum labor et dolor; quoniam supervenit mansuetudo, et corripiemur.
11 Quis novit potestatem iræ tuæ, et præ timore tuo iram tuam
12 dinumerare? Dexteram tuam sic notam fac, et eruditos corde in sapientia.
13 Convertere, Domine; usquequo? et deprecabilis esto super servos tuos.
14 Repleti sumus mane misericordia tua; et exsultavimus, et delectati sumus omnibus diebus nostris.
15 Lætati sumus pro diebus quibus nos humiliasti; annis quibus vidimus mala.
16 Respice in servos tuos et in opera tua, et dirige filios eorum.
17 Et sit splendor Domini Dei nostri super nos, et opera manuum nostrarum dirige super nos, et opus manuum nostrarum dirige.

A prayer of Moses the man of God.
Lord, you have been our refuge from generation to generation.
2 Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed; from eternity and to eternity you are God.
3 Turn not man away to be brought low: and you have said: Be converted, O you sons of men.
4 For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, which is past. And as a watch in the night, 5 things that are counted nothing, shall their years be.
6 In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither.
7 For in your wrath we have fainted away: and are troubled in your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before your eyes: our life in the light of your countenance.
9 For all our days are spent; and in your wrath we have fainted away. Our years shall be considered as a spider:
10 The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years. But if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is labour and sorrow. For mildness has come upon us: and we shall be corrected.
11 Who knows the power of your anger, and for your fear
12 can number your wrath? So make your right hand known: and men learned in heart, in wisdom. 13 Return, O Lord, how long? And be entreated in favour of your servants.
14 We are filled in the morning with your mercy: and we have rejoiced, and are delighted all our days. 15 We have rejoiced for the days in which you have humbled us: for the years in which we have seen evils.
16 Look upon your servants and upon their works: and direct their children.
17 And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and direct the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands do you direct.